RT Journal Article
T1 Longitudinal Study of the Psychosocial Efects of Political  Participation by Children: the ‘Ágora Infantil’ Programme
A1 Albornoz Manyoma, Nazly
A1 García Leiva, Patricia
A1 Palacios Gálvez, María Soledad
AB The objective of this paper is to evaluate the efect of participation-based democratic innovations on psychological empowerment and group identifcation of children. To do so, it analyses the impact on the participants of a participatory democracy programme for groups of schoolchildren, ‘Ágora Infantil’ (AI). Evaluation is performed via a longitudinal study carried out over two years, with pre and post quantitative measurements of the target and control group. The sample consisted of 182 boys and girls. The data were gathered via a questionnaire made up of items prepared by a group of experts for the current study based on Zimmerman’s empowerment theory (American Journal of Community Psychology, 23(5), 581–599, 1995, 2000). Items were also taken from other authors, for example afective links, which were used as an indicator to measure group identifcation (Gaviria et al. International Journal of Social Psychology, 30(3), 531–562, 2015). The results show that institutional political participation generates positive changes in the participants. More specifcally, the children improved in the two components of psychological empowerment (intrapersonal and interactional), with an intensifcation of relationship links with the group (the class). These fndings demonstrate the political and psychosocial importance of these participatory innovations being introduced and their medium-term efects.
PB Springer
SN 1874-897X
SN 1874-8988 (electrónico)
YR 2021
FD 2021
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/20141
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/20141
LA eng
NO Albornoz-Manyoma, N.G., García-Leiva, P. & Palacios-Gálvez, M.S. Longitudinal Study of the Psychosocial Effects of Political Participation by Children: the ‘Ágora Infantil’ Programme. Child Ind Res 14, 2083–2096 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-021-09837-w
NO Project PAIDI (HUM-590). Universidad de Málaga / CBUA. This research project was made possible by the research agreement Ref. 8.07/5.38.4408 between the social agency Coglobal and the universities of Malaga, Huelva and Cádiz. Coglobal was responsible for the design and execution of the democratic initiative studied. We would also like to highlight the key role of the children that participated in the study and the invaluable support of the participating schools. Finally, we would like to thank the local councils that have promoted these types of experimental policies.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 1 jun 2026